


Speckulating

by imagem



Category: Good Trouble (TV), The Fosters (TV 2013)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-09
Updated: 2019-03-23
Packaged: 2019-11-14 09:13:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,527
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18049697
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/imagem/pseuds/imagem
Summary: Throughout the years of Mariana studying in MIT, the name Evan Speck has been popping up as among the tech community as the next Steve Jobs. When she submitted her résumé to 3 companies of her choice, and Speckulate were the first to call her for an interview. She had a good feeling about the place, and seeing Gael, a walking painting, who was also interviewing for a job also factored into her decision. Now her gut and her loins were signaling for her to say yes. So she did, and turns out she was dead wrong about both Gael and Speckulate.





	1. Repeating nightmare

Throughout the years of Mariana studying in MIT, the name Evan Speck has been popping up as among the tech community as the next Steve Jobs. When she submitted her résumé to 3 companies of her choice, and Speckulate were the first to call her for an interview. Maybe it was shortsighted, but Mariana went with her gut and accepted the offer instead of weighing her options. She had a good feeling about the place, and seeing Gael, a walking painting, who was also interviewing for a job. Now her gut and her loins were signaling for her to say yes. So she did, and turns out she was dead wrong about both Gael and her new job.

Gael was simply wasn’t into her, and hooked up with Callie on their first night moving into the Coterie. His relationship with her sister wasn’t going anywhere.

Her job at Speckulate was a nightmare. Mariana felt unwelcomed and unworthy by her team. Only one nice to her only when no one was watching. Even Evan Speck, who is the main reason she accepted the job, turned out to be a dick. He unleashed HR on her for just approaching him about an app idea she wanted his advice on.

The place was toxic and demoralizing. Many times Mariana contemplated quitting, but her accumulating outstanding balance kept her on a leash.

“Adams-Foster don’t quit” she chanted to herself, finding new motivation to go to work. Marina decided to fight the toxicity of the work environment by changing it. She created the ‘Byte Club’ and joined hands with all the female coworkers for support and demand an equal pay.

Mariana also pulled late hours to build a prototype of the app idea she knows is good. Her plan was to show Evan Speck the app, to show that she is an asset to the company.

Once the app was fully formed, Mariana went to the CEO’s secretary, Josh, to book an appointment. Going through the proper channels, so that she could avoid another beat down from HR; however, the secretary always dismissed her requests by saying the “CEO is busy”.

She knew Josh was lying, and she had to approach him somehow. Mariana has been in Speckulate for five months now, and only saw the CEO six times.

1st time Mariana saw him in person was during HR manager touring her around the workplace. He had assistants running after him and he was super busy.

2nd time Mariana saw him was on her second day. They were alone in the elevator and Mariana took the chance to introduce herself and ask to run an app idea. Then Angela, the HR manager, gave her a public verbal warning to never approach the CEO again or she’ll get fired.

3rd encounter, Mariana spilled coffee on his white sweatshirt, broke his cellphone and head-butted him. All of this happened within seconds. Mariana knew she was going to get fired, but he was extremely chill about it. HR did not come, which puzzled Mariana.

4th encounter was during Speckulate’s 5th costume party anniversary. He was kind and gentle with her, talking about cheese puss and later that day saying he noticed she was alone during the party. It was the first talk they had during the first months, and she learned that he has social anxiety. Maybe that’s why he doesn’t like to be approached.

5th time, he sat silently at the bank of the conference room.

6th time was today.

Mariana at the time was at the elevator and Evan entered without acknowledging her existence. He was fiddling with the magnetic bullets frantically and lost in his thoughts.

Mariana forgot about all her plans when she saw the state he was in. He looked troubled by something.

“Are you ok?” Mariana asked, disregarding the elevator operator, who rolled his eyes at her for approaching the CEO again.

“Oh, uh, yes” Evan answered after turning around to see her. His eyes lingered for a moment. None of his employees ever asked him that. He was feeling anxious about a suspicion he had, and couldn’t talk about it with anyone, especially to her.

The elevator reached ground floor and Evan immediately turned and left.

“Mariana…thank you for asking” Evan spoke before getting into his car.

Mariana only smiled and headed out to grab lunch at a local restaurant close by. She didn’t have anyone to sit with during lunch. The female coworkers did not want to sit together, to avoid tipping off anyone about their unity. So here she was ordering an avocado bubble tea and avocado salad. This way was better in her mind: To sit alone in secret rather than alone in public.

She tried to enjoy the meal, but the thought that she blew her chance occupied her mind. Defeated, she threw away the unfinished lunch, and went back to work.

Waiting for the elevator, Mariana noticed that Evan’s car was still parked. Is he back? Her mind raced with ways to get alone time with him again.

The sound of the car doors opened. His car. He was inside the car, while she was looking at it!

Mariana turned her full body and tried to act natural when he stood next to her.

“Mr. Speck” “Mariana” The two spoke at the same time.

“You go ahead” “You go” They spoke again at the same time and laughed.

“You said you had an app to pitch” Evan recalled.

Mariana was shocked that he brought it up after the fiasco that happened with HR on the second day. She did not want to rehash history, so she responded with “Yes, I built the prototype too if I could show I to you anytime at your convenience”

“Come to my office at 4” he said, and scheduled the meeting into his cellphone’s calendar.

“Yes, sir!” Mariana couldn’t contain her excitement.

“Call me, Evan” he smiled shyly, and went back to his car and drove off.

Was he waiting for her in the car? Mariana wondered.  No, that cannot be. She brushed off the thought, thinking its imposturous. Why would the CEO wait for her?

Mariana walked back to her office with a little spring on her step, only to see her worst nightmare occur again.

Angela, the HR manager, was waiting for her and she’s mad.


	2. Intentions

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> HR finds out about the spreadsheet and gives Mariana a hard decision to make.

“My office. Now” Angela barked out an order.

Mariana knew she’s going to get fired. She must know about the spreadsheet, where the byte club are collecting employee salaries information, so that they could demand a pay raise. They recently starting asking the guys, and possibly someone reported it.

Angelina sat at her desk, and did not speak. It felt like torture, and Mariana couldn’t handle it anymore. She broke the silence by asking “Ms. Miller, why am I here?”

“Evan Speck built this place on his own merit when no one believed in him. Not his parents, not his friends.. no one. Now Speckulate is on every investor’s radar as the best upcoming tech company” She spoke without blinking or taking a breath.

Mariana knew not to interrupt her mid monologue. The anticipation was killing her, not realizing that Angela has repeated her question.

“Why are you trying to tear him down?”

“Me? What did I do?” Mariana was flabbergasted at the accusation.

“Assembling all the female employees to demand a pay raise or going to the media” Angela was fuming and tried to calm herself.

“Assembling yes, but not that!” Mariana defended herself. That was not her plan, but it seems that someone is stirring things up to get a quick result.

“Aren’t your exact words ‘to escalate’ Congratulations, you got what you wanted, but at what cost.” Angela handed her a piece of paper and a pen.

“All of the employees’ salaries have been reviewed and this is your new contract detailing your new salary. This deal expires tomorrow. Mr. Speck has a kind heart and vetoed my decision to dismiss The Byte Club members for breaching the NDA agreement. Know that I will be watching you, Mariana Adams-Foster, very closely. One mistake. only one and you’re out of a job. The other byte club members will not be treated with strictness if the leader resigned.” Angela said with a tight smile and ushered Mariana to the door.

Mariana’s head started to spin. It was a victory, but not for her. She made an enemy of the head of Human resources that can use and change the rules to push all of a job. Mariana knew she had to resign to help others.

Her eyes drifted to the wall clock that blinked the numbers 3:45. Her feet moved by instinct. She did not want to be late on her appointment with the CEO. So, she went to his office, where Josh the secretary was sitting at his desk.

“I have an appointment with Mr. Speck at 4” Mariana spoke.

“About what?” Josh asked while looking at his computer screen.

“An app pitch.” She answered.

Josh looked annoyed, took a deep breath and turned to face her. “Mr. Speck is busy. I’ll call you once he is available. Now, go back to work”

“No, he told me to come” Mariana explained. It might be the last time she could see him. The meeting was very important to her. She was feeling worthless working under Alex, and this will prove to herself that she is a good before she headed out.

“Mariana,” The deep voice came from the doorway. “Go ahead into my office. I’ll be there in a sec”

Mariana entered Evan Speck’s office for the very first time, and from the glass walls, she could see that he’s having a word with Josh. The assistant was shaking his head, looked desperate while flailing his hands. Then he started gathering his stuff and left.

Evan looked mad when he entered his office, his hands were shaking.

“We could do this another time” Mariana offered, knowing that she won’t be coming to work tomorrow.

“No, it’s ok” He took out his magnetic bullets to calm his nerves.

“I insist” She did not have the heart to push him. Mariana realized this was the second time today that she placed his needs over hers.

“Ok. Is tomorrow at10 fine with you?” He took out his cellphone to book the meeting.

“Yes” she lied. She wanted to tell him a lot of things. To thank him about vetoing Angela, to expose the broholes, to tell him how kind he is… All she could muster was “See you tomorrow, Mr. Speck”

He lifted his eyes with a faint smile “I told you to call me Evan”

“Evan” She said his name, and it did not feel awkward saying it. In her mind, she no longer works for him. She walked out the door and did not look back.

The end of one chapter in her life.

She was glad she had enough money to carry her and Callie for the next few months.  Once she reached home, she told Callie that she quit her job leaving out the details, closed her cellphone, expecting the Byte Club to call. All she wanted is sleep, so she did until there was banging on the door.

“Sorry, don’t mean to wake you, but there’s a Viking looking dude in the coterie asking about you” Alice said apologetically. “Should I tell him to go?”

Mariana was still dazed, looked at her bedside clock. 10 am. It took her a whole minute to realize that Evan Speck is waiting for her outside her room!

She jolted out of the bed, quickly ran to the closet and changed blindly to any top and pants she could grab.

“How do I look?” She asked Alice.

“Like you just woke up. I could tell him to go” Alice offered again, not used to seeing Mariana frazzled like this.

“No, no, let him sit at the poolside” Mariana instructed, not wanting the roommates to interrogate him, especially Davia. She tried to tame her hair into a bun, looked in the mirror and she was passable. Feeling nervous, Mariana let out a deep breath, and walked towards Evan.

“We have a meeting at 10” he explained, but it still did not explain his presence at her home.

“I resigned today. Didn’t Angela tell you?” Mariana asked.

“Yes” He answered with one word.

Mariana kept looking at him, waiting for more explanation, but he kept waiting for hers.

Mariana decided that beating around the bush does not work with him, she had to be direct.

“I no longer work for Speckulate, so that means our meeting is cancelled” Mariana spoke.

“Yesterday you said 10 is fine. What changed? Did I say something wrong?” Evan rubbed his head, he usually does say the wrong things.

“No! No! It’s not you. You’re the main reason why I stayed for this long in your company” She quickly replied, and shared more information that she intended.

 “What was the reason then?” Evan pushed for an answer, taking one small step towards her.

Mariana did not want to spill all the details, so she lied. “I got a job offer from another company”

“Oh… I’ll double whatever they’re offering?” Evan countered.

Mariana couldn’t believe how hard he’s fighting to keep her, making her second guess her decision. HR might be against her, but she has the CEO backing her up, but her friends’ jobs will be in jeopardy and she couldn’t be selfish.

“I’m happy with my decision” she lied again and offered her hands to shake in a formal way of goodbye.

Evan looked defeated, not knowing what to say or do to change her mind. He pocketed his magnetic bullets, and shook her extended hand.

“Speckulate will always welcome you back” he offered, holding her hand so firmly then started to let go before Mariana grabbed on to his sleeve.

He waited for her to speak, to say that she will come back to work. Only for Mariana to do the complete opposite. She pulled Evan from his neck so that she could reach his lips. He was shocked by her action, but the taste of her lips consumed his mind. Evan pulled her closer to his body, deepening the kiss.

“Ow Ow Owwwww” Davia howled from inside, forcing the two to stop.

Mariana walked towards her room, stringing along Evan behind her, and ignoring Davia’s questions about Evan. “So what’s the new meat’s name?”

Evan was about to answer, when Mariana pulled him into the room and pushed him onto her bed.

“Wait” Evan spoke, “Why did you kiss me?”

Mariana walked slowly towards him, gently took his hand and placed it on her beating heart. She failed at explaining her exact feelings since she didn’t fully realize it. All she know at that moment, she wanted him to stay.

Evan moved his hand and traced his fingers on her collarbone, to her neck, then her plump lips.

“I want to kiss you” Evan voiced his intention.

“You can do more than that” Mariana teased.

 


End file.
